It is common knowledge that summer largemouths relate to shade everywhere bass live. Yet in the Pacific Northwest, shade is probably one factor that many overlook. When searching for shallow largemouths, shade can be the best “cover” available. largemouths use the shade for a hunting advantage, making them less visible to prey and making passing prey more visible. likewise anglers can be more visible, so using stealthy tactics and subdued colors in your clothing and boat improve your success. exploit every bit of shade you find, whether it be from a boulder, log, dock, anchored boat, or along weed edges. tactics that utilize slowly moving lures should be natural and convincing. The clear water and slow speed allows a bass to stalk and carefully inspect the offering, rather than striking immediately upon detection (typical of largemouths in low-visibility habitats where snoozing means losing).
One successful tactic for summertime Northwest largemouths is using topwater lures. The surface disturbance created by topwater reduces their visibility, even in the clear water. Choose a topwater with a natural size, shape, and color like a Snag Proof tournament Frog, and you are ready to fool northern strain largemouths in any shade or weed patch. Not only is fishing a Snag Proof frog effective, but nothing is more fun than seeing Mama Pesce blow-up on your frog and pulling against the double 4/0 hook. try skipping a frog under a dock, over a fallen tree, or into the most tangled beaver hut you can find. they won’t snag, and bass eagerly engulf them. Just make sure you use heavy braid and a rod with guts. Favorites include the lamiglas Certified Pro xC 725 t ournament Frog rod, or the excel xl 735 C matched with 65lb test braid. as mentioned earlier, largemouths often spread out in the sparse vegetation. if you want to cover a lot of water, the new Snag Proof Bobby’s Perfect Buzz Frog is made to order. The soft body has kicker legs which churn the surface. additional disturbance and noise is created by an in-line buzzbait blade in front of the frog. This snag proof design allows you to fish where other buzzbaits can’t go, and the Gamakatsu double 4/0 hook brings the bass out of heavy cover and into your boat. You cannot go wrong with the natural colors like Brown Bullfrog. Summer water temperatures in the Pacific Northwest put largemouths at the peak of their metabolism. Water temps of 72-degrees mean the
Issue 3
June 2012
largemouths are snappin,’ so quickly-moving lures in the clear water draw vicious strikes. one deadly tactic below the surface takes the opposite approach of topwaters. Swimming a jig through and around sparse vegetation is effective since it appears natural (like a baitfish), and doesn’t over-power with excessive noise or vibration that doesn’t match the highly visible lure. add realistic swimming action to your swim jig with a soft plastic trailer. The Yamamoto 4” Swim Senko or the 4.5” Hula Swimmer are great choices matched with a Blade runner swim jig. if you have any doubts of the effectiveness of swim jigs in the Pacific Northwest, just ask the swim jig master, Mike Wolsky, who recently nabbed a 7.30 northern-strain largemouth during a winning effort at a Northwest Bass tournament on lake Washington. Mike’s partner, professional angler ron Hobbs Jr. added another over 5-lbs as part of their 23+ pound mixed bag of largemouths and smallmouths. even when largemouths are at their peak activity level, there are days in which active tactics fail to interest them. The Pacific Northwest is no different and the astute angler switches to more subtle tactics and the use of lures that gracefully flutter as they sink above a waiting largemouth. No lure performs in this tactic better than a Yamamoto Senko rigged weightless on a Gamakatsu weedless Wicked Wacky hook. Braided line with a fluorocarbon leader allows the use of a spinning rod and reel for long distance casting, without sacrificing line strength. The long cast reduces the chance a large bass will first detect your presence and a wiggling soft plastic falling to the bottom is too much temptation for even non-active bass to refuse. Hook sets with this rig are as simple as tightening your line; the sharp hook and struggling bass does the rest.
Largemouth bass factories exist across the Pacific Northwest. Some of the most popular lakes include Potholes reservoir and Silver lake in Wash., tenmile lake, Crane Prairie and lake dorena in ore., and lake Coeur d’alene and Hayden lake in idaho. Many small lakes exist across these states and double digit largemouths are possible at many. if you think only the smallmouth bass are worthy of attention in Pacific Northwest, you are missing out on a lot of action and one of the best kept secrets in the nation!
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